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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30078693">Assessing Alternates</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordValeryMimes/pseuds/LordValeryMimes'>LordValeryMimes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red Dwarf (UK TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Essays, M/M, Meta, fic rec</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:53:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,045</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30078693</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordValeryMimes/pseuds/LordValeryMimes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an essay length fic rec for "Alternates" by Janamelie, written for the RDFicRecEssays fest.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dave Lister/Arnold Rimmer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Red Dwarf Fic Rec Essays</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Assessing Alternates</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janamelie/gifts">Janamelie</a>.</li>


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/345262">Alternates</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janamelie/pseuds/Janamelie">Janamelie</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is one of my favorite fics! And I hope I did it justice with the first essay I've written in twenty years. :-D</p><p>Happy Birthday, Janamelie! :-)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s that age old question everyone asks. Well perhaps not age old, but it’s the question that Red Dwarf fans have been asking themselves since 1991. Well maybe not all fans, but certainly shippers. Ok, so it’s the question that shippers have been asking themselves since 1991: what WOULD have happened if Ace hadn’t left at the end of Dimension Jump? Luckily for you, you don’t have to wonder anymore, there’s a FIC for that!</p><p>There are fewer things that get the imagination more fired, than a good old ponder on, “What if?” Janamelie ponders a particularly juicy one of those “what ifs” in her fantastic fic: Alternates. Set just after the happenings of Dimension Jump, Alternates imagines what would have happened if Ace had stayed with the Boys from the Dwarf and not immediately left to get away from Rimmer’s insufferability. What would have been Ace’s motivation to stay in the first place? How would this have Changed Lister and Rimmer’s relationship? And how would this have changed the trajectories of everything that would happen to the boys later on in the show? There is so much possibility here, and Janamelie does an amazing job of exploring what could have been.</p><p>I’ll do my best to stay away from too many spoilers, but dang is it going to be difficult. This fic is like a juicy ripe peach; you can’t just take a tiny nibble, you want to gobble down the whole thing in a few large bites. In short, Ace can’t bring himself to leave after encountering Lister, Kryten and Cat onboard the Dwarf. There is one particular person who motivates him to stick around for a bit longer. Things get hot, things get confusing, things get awkward, then things get hot again. It’s a fun roller coaster ride as we watch what happens when Rimmers love Listers and Listers love Rimmers.</p><p>One of the main focuses of the fic is Rimmer, and how he deals with the prospect of Ace sticking around for longer. It was already more than enough torture for Rimmer to see a handsome, accomplished, self-assured version of himself swaggering about the ship, but what if it went on for much more than just one episode? Rimmer already spent the entirety of Dimension Jump declaring to anyone and everyone on board the ship that Ace was clearly gay and ready to hop into bed with Lister. How exhausted would Rimmer get from the mental gymnastics he would have to continue to do with Ace sticking around? How long would it take Rimmer to crack and realize that insisting that Ace is gay, is effectively calling himself gay?</p><p>Then of course there’s the palpable sexual tension between Lister and Ace. Where could THAT have gone if Ace hadn’t zoomed away into the night as soon as he got his arm stitched up? Once again I’m reluctant to spoil this fic for anyone who hasn’t read it yet, but there is SO much good stuff here between Lister and Ace. Imagine you love a person who you also kind of hate, but you can’t touch them, so at least there’s that saving grace. Then suddenly there is a version of them that you CAN touch, and who is less of a smeggy git. I think we all can imagine where Lister’s mind (and other things) went when this handsome, likeable version of his smeghead bunkmate suddenly showed up in tight bacofoil trousers.</p><p>Another great thing about this fic, is the fact that we get to know more about the man, the legend: Ace himself. So much is left to the imagination in Dimension Jump. Why was Ace so willing to just drop everything in his own dimension, leaving behind his career and all the adoring friends and colleagues we saw in the episode’s opening? Surely something else had to be going on with him to make him so willing to just leave all of that behind after he spent years proving himself? This fic gives us a much needed glimpse into another side of Ace. The side that is still longing for that one thing he wasn’t able to have. I think this fic is one of the reasons why I’m fond of this original Ace. When I see Dimension Jump, I’m not just seeing Ace as he’s presented, I’m also seeing everything that Janamelie imagined was going on with him internally. It makes the character so much richer and enjoyable.</p><p>This fic does a wonderful job of exploring Rimmer’s internalized homophobia in a way that manages to be both in-character, and realistic for someone with an upbringing that was filled with abuse and homophobia. Like most shippers, I headcanon Rimmer as being gay, but also deeply, deeply closeted. There are so many indicators in canon to support this, and it’s easy to imagine Rimmer hiding his sexuality well into adulthood after a childhood where he was spoon fed toxic masculinity at every meal. What better way to pull the self-denying wool off of Rimmer’s own eyes, but having a hunky version of himself show up and threaten the relationship he desperately wishes he could have with Lister? It would take something really significant to make Rimmer come to terms with his feelings, and having another version of him, a “better” version is the perfect catalyst.</p><p>Not only do we get these great explorations of Rimmer and Ace’s psyches, there are several additional surprises in store. I mean, you can’t expect Ace Rimmer, space explorer to stick around, and not have some crazy and unexpected things happen. One of the greatest surprises is we get to spend some more time learning about yet another version of Lister and Rimmer. Again, I don’t want to spoil, but it’s fun to have another set of these two smegheads to spend time with, and learn more about how they tick.</p><p>It’s been years since I first read it, and Alternates remains one of my favorite fics. It’s fun, it’s hot, there's KNITTING, and it’s a rich exploration of characters we already know and love. But most of all, it brings home the truth that all shippers recognize: that these two smegheads, no matter what universe they’re in, will always be made for one another. </p>
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